Abstract

Transatlantic competition relations have transitioned from a largely adversarial reliance on unilateral extraterritoriality to cooperative bilateralism. To explain this surprising transition to international cooperation, the dissertation introduces a cross-level approach that accounts for the influence of economic internationalization and the strategic interaction among various actors operating within causally significant domestic institutional environments. The findings suggest that self-interested competition regulators have driven transatlantic cooperation in competition policy, using their discretionary authority to structure policy coordination through three distinct processes: rule-making, implementation and exploratory institutional cooperation.